European nations relax border controls with vigilance while gearing up to cut tourism fallout

EMBRACING TOURISTS

Spain planned to reopen its frontiers with the EU countries -- with the exception of Portugal -- on June 21. But a pilot scheme of tourism was kicked off on Monday.

The first group of an estimated 10,900 German tourists expected to visit the Balearic Islands of Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza between now and July 1 landed at Palma de Mallorca Airport on Monday morning.

They are the first tourists allowed to enter Spain since the declaration of the State of Alarm and the subsequent lockdown.

All the tourists had to undergo a safety and security check, which included filling in a form still in flight to give details of where they would be staying during their visit, which must last a minimum of five nights. They also had their temperature checked on arrival.

The pilot scheme is considered a trial for a wider opening of the tourist sector both in the Balearic Islands and in the rest of Spain in the coming weeks.

In addition, Greece reopened its gates to tourists on Monday, with protecting the health of visitors and locals being its top priority, as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced. International flights for tourists to Athens and Thessaloniki airports have resumed from Monday.

REKINDLING HOPE

Italy, once hit hard by the coronavirus, recorded 26 new COVID-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours, the lowest daily increase in the country since March 3.

Along with some European partners, the country signed a contract with AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company for buying up to 400 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine.

The contract with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical followed a deal agreed between Italy, Germany, France, and the Netherlands in the previous days in order to ensure the availability of the vaccine in the European markets, once ready.

"Italy has not yet purchased doses of the vaccine -- which are not yet available -- but rather signed a contract to keep supporting this scientific research," Italy's Deputy Health Minister Pierpaolo Sileri told state-run RAI Radio 1 on Monday.

"Presuming to have it ready for autumn may be premature, yet it (the vaccine) could arrive by the end of the year, or beginning of 2021," he added.